random musings

Geysir is an Icelandic Word

2011-05-07T12:52:00.001-04:00

The word 'geyser' came from Iceland - that, in fact, is the name of the Iceland's biggest geyser - Geysir.

There is a hot springs valley with pools of simmering or actively boiling water.

Among them is Geysir that shoots up about a dozen times an hour to a few stories' height. Quite an amazing sight. Too bad it was so overcast - it is harder to grasp the enormity of it.

This is the Geysir's pool. The darker area in the middle is the opening, that's where the water spits out from. The surrounding water is where it falls after shooting up. Just like in a fountain.

The weather was... well, Icelandic. It rained pretty much non-stop all day long. We were both soaking wet through and through, but who cares when you're surrounded by beauty such as this?

The land is smoking...

...green grass is growing everywhere in the warmed-up soil...

...red sands of iron...

...blue water of minerals...

However nice and blue the water seems, don't touch it: it's 80-100 degrees Celsius (near boiling).

Icelandic Weather: All Seasons in One Day

2011-04-29T15:56:00.001-04:00

The weather in Iceland is quite crazy. You can experience all 4 seasons in one day. Sun, rain, snow, fog, winds... you name it. You can experience 2 seasons withing FIVE MINUTES. Look at these photos. I actually bothered to give you the exact time each photo was taken to illustrate the frequency and abruptness of the changes.

9:38 am (photo from the bus window on our way to the glacier):

12:38 pm: rain on the glacier:

3:28 pm: heavy snow:

3:31 pm - THREE MINUTES LATER (seriously) - sunny again:

4:20 pm: it's snowing again:

4:24 pm - FOUR MINUTES LATER - nice and sunny again

5:46 pm - more rain on the way back (no snow):

The Icelanders have a saying: "don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes"
As I just proved it - it is true.

Glacier or Walking on the Ice

2011-04-25T09:04:00.000-04:00

Iceland's glaciers are among the biggest in the world. Remember the last year's volcano eruption, the one that disrupted all the flights? Well, a volcano just next to it is well past due with an eruption, too - only that one's crater is hidden under a glacier and will provoke dangerous and unpredictable flooding.

Anyhow, glacier: such a fun experience! There's a glacier tongue that descends right to the ground level. From afar, it looks like dirty snow. Nothing to write home about.

We were given crampons,

...a harness (presumably so that they could pick up our bodies in case we fall into a crevasse)

...and an axe (presumably for photo-posing).

Shall we go?

We spent about 3 hours on the glacier. We walked this and that way. There were deep cauldrons and crevasses all over. On this picture below, it's just an opening, it keeps on going deeper and deeper into the glacier.

We learned how to spot disguised cauldrons - that innocently look like snow but are, in fact, dozens of meters deep. The snow isn't packed, so you'll fall right through. A mom and a daughter fell last year. Mom died instantaneously, they managed to rescue the daughter. Don't go there without a guide and proper equipment!

We saw an ice rose: when an under-the-surface water current gets blocked, the water moves up and forms a well. The edges of the well look somewhat like a rose. It is also dozens of meters deep.

We didn't see any crevasses that were truly deep, but stepping over them was still a bit spooky.

We even went through a cave. The unpleasant part was that the path leading to the cave's entrance was clearly located above some kind of a tunnel. I kept thinking we're about to fall through into the tunnel...

While we were there, we experienced sun, rain, and snow. That's the Icelandic weather for you.

The deep-blue color of the ice means it's very dense. There is more water and less oxygen.

Overall, this was a fun experience!

Maybe next time we'll do something more difficult. Like an opportunity to actually use the ax!

No Last Name For You in Iceland

2011-04-24T15:02:00.000-04:00

Icelanders don`t have last names - in the way we know them. People`s last names are given in association with their fathers' names - and their own gender.

So, if your name is John, and your dad`s name is Mark, then your full name would be John Marksson.

And if your sister`s name is Maria, then her full name would be Maria Marksdottir.

And your dad`s name might be Mark Gustavsson. And your mom`s name might be Lisa Andreysdottir.

Now imagine if you and your sister were from different marriages.

Bottom line: everyone has their own last name. But somehow Icelanders make sense in all of this and moms don`t get questioned on their not-matching last name when they pick up their kids at schools.

The Icelandic Horse

2011-04-21T16:59:00.000-04:00

If they had to eat rotten sharks, then it must mean there isn't much of a fauna in Iceland. And it's true.

One of the truly Icelandic animals is the Icelandic horse. There was no interbreeding from any horses from anywhere around the world for a 1000 years since they were brought there. So they are direct descenders of vikings' horses.

Looking at them, one might wonder if vikings were, actually dwarfs? Maybe that`s how the dwarf stories were born. Just kidding.

Anyway. The fact that they were so isolated means that the horses are very vulnerable. They have no immunity against out-of-Iceland germs and viruses. So if anyone takes an Icelandic horse abroad for a competition, it has to be left behind. No horses are allowed to enter Iceland. Very sad.

An advice: NEVER call the Icelandic horse a pony in front of another Icelandic human being. They are noble steeds (makes me think of Shrek). Horses.

And lots of excursions can be found on their tiny back. We haven`t got the time to experience that, though.

What Is So Hot In Iceland?

2011-04-19T15:23:00.000-04:00

So what's so hot in Iceland? Well, other than the volcanoes that erupt and disrupt the whole western hemisphere's airline business, it's the hot water. The hot springs.

Iceland has an amazing quantity of geysers and hot springs. So much of it, in fact, that they use it to produce electricity, warm up their houses (it's really, really warm wherever you go - indoors), use it as tap hot water (it smells of sulfur really strongly), warm up green houses enough to grow tomatoes!

They even warm up the pavements to eliminate snow in winter! Although this last thing hasn't been introduced everywhere, not yet.

But wait, this isn't all: they pour hot spring water into a small roped-off marine lagoon to make sea bathing bearable! It's a very popular beach in summer, although most people still prefer a dip in a man-made swimming pool, where sea water is being heated up using the hot spring water. But some people (the brave ones) go right in the 15 degrees seawater.

I heard a lot about saunas being part of German social life, and of Japanese life, too - well, in Iceland the social life happens in outdoors swimming pools, year-round. Yes, outdoors. The water - you guessed it - is heated using the hot spring water. It takes a lot of courage to cross those couple of dozens of feet from the changing room to the hot pot and enjoy the heat (there are some as hot as 42 degrees - Celsius, that is) - see the pots on the left, each with their own temperature:

or you can choose to make a few laps in a swimming pool, covered with evaporating steam and heads bobbing up and down the swimming lanes, just barely visible in all the fog.

Overall, it being a vacation, it was really nice to be able to spend some time swimming and splashing. George even braved one of the slides.

In the middle there, under the bridge, you can see a group playing basketball. We played, too - and what a lousy sight we were! But we enjoyed it, until we got cold and went back to hot pots. Where most people come and seat and talk after walk. You see a lot of Icelanders there - and really not e lot of tourists. Almost none, in fact.

Overall - I wish we had a swimming pool like this here, in Toronto, Although I am pretty sure it would be extremely costly. In Iceland, with all the hot water pouring out of the earth? Mere 4 bucks for entrance.

You have to undress and go take a shower stark naked. No stalls provided. They even drew diagrams for you to remember which parts of your body need to be washed (underarms, genitals - all of it, LOL). My advice? Do not wash your hair. My head was FREEZING out there, even though I kept diving frequently to warm it up.

Funny memory: as I was carrying my photocamera from the locker room to the swimming pool, through the shower room area, a woman attacked me angrily. Oops. The lens of my camera wasn't covered so she thought I was filming them all, naked!

But this is all civilization. Of course, there are many natural pools and springs, but you have to know for sure which ones you can dip in. These two look blue and serene, don't they?

Well, it's from 80 to 100 degrees - almost boiling! Well, the boiling ones are easy to spot (they do boil, you see) but the ones that are 80 degrees... just as dangerous, but look quite harmless.

Oh, and no change rooms or ice cream shacks there. Just pure, wild nature experience.

You can bathe only when hot springs are being mixed with cold mountain rivers. Here, you can see George warming up his hands, soaking wet and cold from all the rain. The water in this lovely stream was just bearably hot. Probably too hot for dipping, though.

The most famous place - with tourists - for outdoors swimming year round is the Blue Lagoon - which came by as a by-product of a power plant nearby (how unromantic). The water is seawater from 2,000 metres deep boreholes, heated with hot spring steam. It's really hot and reach in salts and minerals. This one is all about civilization: you pay 35 Euros for entrance, there are restaurants and toilets and showers, and even sauna and steam room.

Roofs of Reykjavik

2011-04-16T14:25:00.000-04:00

About 70% of Iceland's population (which, incidentally, totals 318,000 people) live in the capital, Reykjavik. I am not sure what we expected going to the infamous land of volcanoes, but we were surprised to find the view quite similar to those of Switzerland postcards: colourful houses with snow-capped mountains as the backdrop.

The houses really are build of wood, but to withstand the ever-wet and windy weather, they're covered with corrugated iron - and then the iron is protected with a layer of paint. One would think that Icelanders chose the vibrant colours to make it a happier place throughout the long and dark winter months - but no, the real reason is that bright colours are simply... cheaper.

Along with mountains, comes the hilly terrain of Reykjavik itself. Not too hilly, not quite like some of the San Francisco streets - but still fairly hilly.

And on a sunny day you might even forget that the sea out there is cold enough to give you hypothermia in seconds...

See how many cars there are? Icelanders are really into cars. Especially the 2-wheel drive ones, which they often turn into monster trucks. Which is understandable given what gravel roads turn into during winter months, as well as in spring, when melting snow caps stream down the slopes, creating new rivers in unpredictable places each year.

Icelanders, during those winter evenings, enjoy nothing better than pack themselves into one of those vehicles, looking like they're heading for a Malibu beach (with heat turned on high in the car), and just drive around the streets, sipping coke, window-shopping, and listening to music.

We regret that we didn't rent a car (it would've been much, MUCH cheaper than taking tours), and there is really only one road around the island. But navigating streets of Reykjavik? Not that easy. Try and read those signs while moving (if there are any signs, to begin with) and then try and find something similar on the map. Honestly, I never even remembered the name of the street our hotel was on!

The old city is small and pedestrian-friendly. There, perhaps, is only one place I regret not visiting up-close: this charming church that we saw from an observation point. But one day, we'll come back. We already decided we will. And fix this oversight :)

Huldufólk - "Hidden" Icelandic Population

2011-04-15T07:00:00.001-04:00

People and sheep and Icelandic horse aren't the only inhabitants in Iceland. It's densely populated by elves, dwarfs, and trolls. Tolkien spent a lot of time in Iceland when writing his Lord of the Rings. And his elves - as tall as people - are the Icelandic elves.

We sure did feel like hobbits often enough hiking in the foggy mountain paths.

Icelanders shrug their shoulders and explain that the movie wasn't filmed in Iceland because of its lack of forests. I would say the ever-changing, completely unreliable weather played a role there, too.

Looking around at all the rocks and mountains and cliffs, you can't help but start seeing things. There, see? A troll turned into stone.

This looks exactly like a frog!

And this looks like a lovely dwarf's home in a cavity.

And the weird circular mushrooms or moss (I am not sure what this is) are seen as elves' signs.

If asked, Icelanders will deny that they still believe in all those fairy-tales. But they still build their streets and roads and buildings, doggedly avoiding the 'elf hills'. Because they know that the equipment will malfunction, or a worker will get hurt - so why bother? And if you try and suggest removing a particular rock in their garden, you will be told that that's the elf rock and you may not, under any circumstances, touch it.

The superstitions are very strong, especially since children are still raised with these folk tales.

As one of my books on Iceland says, at a public lecture about Huldufólk (the hidden people), 80% admitted they believed in elves, 50% spoke to an elf, and 25% have seen one!

Well, we have seen... only one :)

Icelandic Food: the Singed and the Rotten

2011-04-14T15:05:00.000-04:00

A couple of years ago I did a presentation on the 10 most disgusting foods on earth for my Toastmasters club. Little did I know that a day will come and I try one of those!

Iceland is a very remote corner of the earth with harsh climate and little vegetation and fauna. Life was hard, winters were long, and people had to get really creative to have something that would pass as edible. As I read somewhere, they ate leather shoes and an odd manuscript to get by.

What made matters even worse, was lack and expensiveness of salt, making lots of food-preserving techniques unavailable for them.

The food might be awful, but they sure know (nowadays) how to serve it:

So some of the icelandic foods are... drumroll, please...

...singed, boiled sheep's head, usually served whole, to be eaten with a pocketknife, looking it in the eye. Thankfully, we were served sheep's head in jellied form on a bread, as a sandwich. It was really good and quite similar to traditional jellied meats in Russia.

This is what svith (Svið) should look like:

(photo taken from: eatmyglobe.blogspot.com)

Much worse is rotten shark (call it fermented if you wish - the fact remains that it's rotten). The thing about sharks is that they don't have kidneys, so uric acid accumulates in its flesh and can be fatal if eaten fresh. So Icelanders used to bury sharks in sand for a few months to allow rotting to break down the acids. They helped along this process by urinating on the buried shark. Thankfully, these days there's no need to urinate on it anymore (you can get ammonia in a less disgusting way) and shark is not being buried but closed in vats. But it still is... well, rotten. And soaked in ammonia.

And we ate it! Looks innocent, doesn't it?

The secret is: do not smell it. Just take a deep breath before eating it, take a bite, chew and swallow - all without breathing. Then breathe out, breathe in - you've done it! Take a shot of Black Death. Or not :)

Anyhow, it tasted similar to infamous Russian salted herring. Maybe the taste was a bit more harsh...

The rest of Icelandic foods were a breeze: the puffin (a bird with a big colourful beak), a whale, a dried fish...

And really, who cares if apple pie is called kaka? :)

Iceland in April is Beautiful!

2011-04-12T11:18:00.001-04:00

We just got back from a week-long vacation in Iceland. What can I say? It's such a beautiful country, I don't even know what to compare it to.

I was unsure just what Iceland looks like in spring - in April. I heard that in summer it's green, with sheep grazing everywhere, and field flowers colouring the landscape, but April? Was it going to be all bare earth, gray and brown? Was there going to be snow? Dirty snow? Last year's grass? Evergreen moss?

As it turns out, the right answer was "all of the above".

Iceland is a remarkable country - it has mountains, volcanoes, glaciers, ocean, hot springs, lakes, geysers, agriculture fields, waterfalls, lava fields, mountain rivers... Forest is the only thing, perhaps, that it lacks.

So the mountains are covered with ice caps, the glaciers are blue and white and gray, the lava fields are either black or green with moss (depending on how old the fields are), the geyser areas are red with iron and blue with minerals, and there are endless golden yellow fields of grass.

The sightseeing is amazing.

But there are also many things to do, like walking on a glacier, with crampons!

The nature all feels... prehistoric. You won't see any civilization around those sights, nothing like Clifron Hill in Niagara Falls. A roped off path at best (and scary as hell).

No one seems to know for sure the origin of this crater lake, but it is blue and red and green and gray...

A barley farm that icelanders are so proud of...

The two-tiered Gullfoss waterfalls, still framed with snow...

The geyser area is simply magnificent...

The surreal blue lagoon, its bottom white with minerals, it's water milky turquoise...

As for the weather... They have a saying there: "don't like the weather? Wait 5 minutes". And this is so true, you can experience all 4 seasons in one day when in Iceland! We experienced sun, rain, fog, snow, hale, rainbows, downpours, extreme winds... sometimes all of these within one day!

But it all feels part of the experience. Iceland won't be Iceland without its queer weather.

I'll share more stories, more pictures. Slowly. There is so much to tell!

Twigs Are Falling Off Of Our Nest!

2011-03-29T17:53:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago I was unsuspectingly playing the good housewife when all of a sudden I felt like a locomotive was passing through my living room at full speed of a modern train. Like in Japan. Whaaa? The washing machine gone mad! It was growling and whining and screeching and banging ~~and biting~~.

I decided to stick with daytime laundries for the time being to avoid driving neighbours mad. They might not appreciate living next door to Grand Central. But then the washer decided to add some white lint all over the load. And then it stopped wringing the clothes - so now they come out with water dripping off of them. Just asking to be hanged out the window Italian style. Only I'm not in Italy (not even Italian!) and it's below zero out there.

Hmmm. Can you stick something THAT wet into a dryer? Since it's a stupid 2-in-1 unit and we'll have to throw away the whole thing anyway, I decided what the hell. I loaded everything in the dryer and turned on TV.

Weirdly enough, 2 hours later I could still hear the dryer humming merrily away. Whaaaa?! The dryer just got stuck mid-cycle, happily bringing hot air but not bothering to spin. So a couple of t-shirts on top of the pile were warm, but the rest was still soaking wet and ice-cold. At midnight. After over 2 hours of humming (very helpful)! I guess Hydro will be merrily humming, too when they will be issuing my next bill...

I hung everything to dry up indoors and woke up to find puddles all over my kitchen. I hope we won't get nasty yellowish spots all over our garage ceiling, I haven't checked yet...

And to top it all off, the garbage truck ran over our garbage bin last week. City of Toronto offered to replace it and suggested we buy some stickers meanwhile and just leave garbage in bags. And why, exactly, should we be paying for bags, may I ask?

And we still have to figure out the hot water issue. And fix the entry door lock. And repaint the bedroom. And we have grand plans to build a wall downstairs and get a new fridge. And... and... and...

House ownership isn't easy, I'll tell you this. But you know what? I love my home regardless :)

Unemployed and happy about it

2011-03-25T16:38:00.000-04:00

You know what? Being unemployed is really a godsend.

That is, of course, if you hated your last job, if you are receiving well-deserved employment insurance, and if you have another income to rely on.

Everyone is saying: enjoy it while it lasts. How often does a vacation like this happen? Paid for and effortless and long?

So I decided: making breakfasts each morning was all nice and fun, but didn't truly make me feel free and liberated. I decided to start doing all those things I could never find the time for.

I started today.

I sat on a boulder at the shoreline, with the Lake Ontario waves swishing at my feet. There was no wind. No people. No noise other than seagulls chasing each other.

Sun was sparkling in the curtains of icicles on curvaceous branches of driftwood. Have you ever seen curtains like this? Have you ever looked, for that matter? Have you ever had the time to just sit still and enjoy the world around?

I sat there, wondering.

Why do swans swim around with their wings raised? What exactly are they eating at the bottom of the March-freezing lake (at least I realized why they have those long, looooong necks)? How do those icicles appear - were there really big waves recently? Did it rain? Or is it just the humidity? When will the safeguards return to their posts? Are you allowed to canoe there? Were these pebbles and sand brought here for decoration purposes, or are they all natural? When does this huge Sunnyside swimming pool open? Is diving allowed?..

I read a book for a while. A few people passed by. Smiling, saying hello.

I felt so utterly happy and peaceful.

Really, when else will I be able to sit like this on the seashore with a book, in the sun, listening to the birds - on a weekday?..

Breakfast Recipe - Breakfast Nests

2011-03-19T22:20:00.003-04:00

I am here. Kinda. Life has been busy over the past week, lots of activities, lots of new experiences... Snowboarding for the first time in my life? Check. Dinner in a rotating restaurant? Check. (I'm glad the rotation was fairly slow...) Experiencing the 4D theatre (motion, water spray, wind blowing). Check.

Throughout this week I cooked some of the breakfasts I shared earlier - crepes, frittata, rice pudding.

Today, I finally decided to make something new - and it was oh-sum! Awesome, that is, pardon my Russian accent :)

Please note: you need a muffin baking form for this one and a rolling pin (wow, I just learned a new word... rolling pin!)

Ingredients:

toast bread

carrots

zucchini

deli meat

cheese

oil

salt

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 420F.

Take a piece of bread, cut off the crust, and roll it with a rolling pin until flat.

Oil both sides of the bread.

Fill the muffin form with the bread to form little baskets. If holes appear, just press the hole closed with some more bread. I used a mini muffins form - I needed 3 pieces of bread for the 12 tiny muffins.

Stick in the oven until dried and browned slightly.

Meanwhile, grate carrots and zucchinis, warm up a skillet and fry the vegetables until soft; add the deli meat cut into tiny pieces.

Take the 'nests' out of the oven, spread them out on a baking sheet, fill with the filling, add some grated cheese on top, stick back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Serve immediately.

If you're using a form for big muffins, a nice decoration trick would be a sunny side up egg on top of each basket. Just a suggestion :)

Credit: http://trio-mia.livejournal.com

Unicycle or Weird Spring Sightings

2011-03-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

I am hyperactive these days. Waking up real early, making exquisite breakfasts, networking, interviewing, taking driving lessons. I am not working - and I actually got myself a monthly metro pass - that's how much I move around.

So today I was in West Bloor Village, paying at the cash of my favourite Chapters store (very cool building, if you haven't been there - it used to be a theatre... they still have a stage and little folding chairs on the walls) - when I saw a nonchalant unicyclist driving down the road. Right on Bloor.

This unicyclist got me curious to the point that I dove towards my laptop the moment I came home and discovered that in the Canadian Highway Traffic Act, a bicycle is defined as "a device having any number of wheels upon which a person sits astride and which is propelled solely by human muscular power through the use of pedals". So there you go, unicycle is just as legal on the road as any other.

A few clicks later, I discovered that unicycles are extremely popular. There are quite a few variations, like a giraffe unicycle and multi-wheel unicycle.

People play unicycle basketball, unicycle football, and unicycle handball.

There even exists a dedicated Unicyclopedia - a wiki containing lots of information about unicycling and unicycles.

So now I know that unicycle is not a bicycle that has one wheel (as I previously thought), but rather a bicycle where only one wheel touches the ground.

Funny fact: there's a unicycle model where you turn the pedals together, like jumping. Those are called kangaroo unicycles. Because that's that you look like when riding one.

In any case, riding them is not easy. How do you get on? How do you stop? And how do you turn?

I would love to watch someone learning to ride one. Wouldn't you?

All images were found online

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 14. Breakfast Cheesecake

2011-03-08T13:13:00.003-05:00

That's it - I did it! Two weeks of waking up real early with the sole purpose of making a breakfast for my hubby, and a different breakfast each day at that! I survived through all those days when I really wanted to just bury myself in the pillows and blankets and hibernate for a day or two.

No, I am not going to stop making breakfasts. But now I will allow myself to skip a breakfast here and there. And repeat the recipes. And make some really easy ones - like toasts with yogurt :)

Anyway, here's breakfast #14 which turned out to be more like a dessert. Like a cheesecake. My hubby felt this one was the best out of all 14.

You're supposed to bake it in the evening - and serve cold in the morning.

Ingredients (for 2-4 servings):

Filling:

eggs - 4

baking cheese (minimum 10% fat) - 500 g.

sugar - 1 cup

Crust:

sugar - 1 tbsp

hot chocolate powder - 2 tbsp

flour - 3/4 cup

baking soda - 1/2 tsp

cold butter - 50 g.

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350F.

I put the eggs, cheese and sugar in the mixer and while the mixer focused on the filling, I focused on the crust.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and hot chocolate powder.

Grate butter with a cheese grater into the dry mixture. Mix with a fork until the mixture looks like dark brown bread crumbs.

Grease an oven-proof dish and cover the bottom and the sides with half of the chocolate mixture.

Pour the cheese-eggs mixture over it.

Cover with the remaining dry mixture.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Serve cold (but hey - I didn't try it hot... maybe it's good, too?)

Credit: http://dumen-l.livejournal.com

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 13. Simplest French Toast

2011-03-07T10:13:00.001-05:00

You know what? I think I got me a winner: this recipe is really simple, tasty - and fast. Even if right now speed isn't my topmost priority, it sure is for most people's breakfasts.

There are quite a few French Toast recipes. I remember an exceptionally complicated one I attempted a year or so ago - there were numerous spices like nutmeg and cinnamon involved, and it had to be baguette, and the baguette had to be left soaking in your fridge overnight and baked in the oven in the morning.

And you know what? After all these efforts, it turned out the proportions in the recipe were off. The baguette stubbornly remained half-dry by the time we woke up, and it didn't taste all that great anyway. So complex recipes are not always the best ones to follow.

Today's simple french toast is perfect illustration of that.

Ingredients (for 2 people):

bread - 4 pieces

milk - 2/3 cup

eggs - 4

sugar - 2 tbsp

liquid vanilla - 1 tsp

salt - 1/4 tsp

butter (for cooking)

icing sugar (for decoration)

berries, yogurt, fruits, honey, maple syrup, ice-cream - whatever you want

Recipe:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl (I find using a rectangular lunch box the same size as a piece of bread the most convenient).

Soak up the first 1 or 2 pieces of bread on each side.

Meanwhile, heat up the frying pan to just above medium on the stove.

Fry the toasts on each side (soak up the next two pieces while frying).

Serve powdered with icing sugar and your choice of decorations.

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 12. Crepes (Blinis)

2011-03-06T14:13:00.001-05:00

Seriously. I know I mentioned this quite a few times earlier this week: it's maslennitsa. And today is the last day! So we had blinis (crepes) for breakfast. Nice and thin and lacy. And - most importantly - tasty.

There are millions of recipes, of course - I chose the one to my liking and slightly modified it.

For about a dozen blinis:

Ingredients:

eggs - 2

salt - a pinch

sugar - 1 tbsp

boiling water - 1 cup

milk - 1 1/4 cups

sour cream - 1 tbsp

flour - 1 1/4 cup

baking powder - 1/2 tbsp

oil

Recipe:

Beat eggs with sugar and salt into foamy liquid.

Slowly pour boiling water into the mixture, constantly stirring. Don't worry, the eggs won't cook :)

Add milk and sour cream, mix thoroughly.

Using a sifter (this is a must!) add slowly flour and baking powder, constantly mixing the dough.

Add a bit of oil (not more than 1 tbsp) and stir.

Now, it is best to use a shallow non-stick frying pan with thick bottom. Like this.

Heat up the pan (I set the stove to just above 5 out of 6). If your pan is really good and non-stick, you can go ahead without using the oil (the amount you poured right into the dough should suffice).

I personally prefer using a refillable oil sprayer that I bought some time ago (like this).

Anyway, spray a bit of oil into the pan. You want to keep your distance while doing that: if your pan is as hot as it should be, the oil might spit around as it comes into contact with the pan.

Pour a ladle of dough onto the skillet and turn the skillet to let the dough spread evenly into a thin crepe.

When the edges become slightly dry and golden, flip it. When it's done - slide onto a plate. While you're baking the rest of crepes, keep the cooked ones covered with a pot lid and towel to keep them warm.

Enjoy!

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 11. Kaiserschmarrn with Dried Apricots

2011-03-05T11:15:00.001-05:00

Kaiser-what? I looked it up. Wikipedia insists this really is a dessert. A pancake, for that matter, and a thick one at that. Well, I had this recipe saved as a breakfast one - albeit sweet, indeed. And, as I mentioned a few days earlier, it's MASLENNITSA this week, so pancakes just fit. Just if you're curious, "kaiser" means "emperor" (I sense Cesar is from the same family... kaiser, cesar... see?) and "schmarrn" is "mishmash" in Austrian German.

I got bored with wikipedia so can't tell you what emperor has to do with this breakfast dessert. Or dessert breakfast. But mishmash it is - for this 'pancake' gets torn into pieces.

Don't try this on a regular morning. And don't try this while everyone's sleeping - unless you wanna wake them up: you'll be operating a mixer. But it really is a simple recipe.

Ingredients:

flour - 100 g

rum - 1 tsp

eggs - 2

sugar - 2 tsp

milk - 100 ml (cold)

salt (just a pinch)

butter (for frying)

icing sugar (for decoration)

Recipe:

Cut dried apricots in cubes and drown them in rum.

Separate egg yolks and whites.

Mix flour, salt, half of the sugar, egg yolks, and cold milk until smooth.

Using a mixer at high speed, turn egg whites and sugar leftovers into thick foam.

With a wooden spoon, carefully fold the foam into the dough.

Warm up the frying pan, melt the butter, pour the dough onto it (it'll be very thick), add dried apricots (get rid of the rum).

Fry until the bottom side is golden. Flip onto a plate, slide back to the frying pan, fry some more.

Don't overcook it or it'll be too dry and rubbery.

When ready, cut into pieces with a spatula (or tear into pieces using two forks) and let it sit in the frying pan for a couple more minutes.

Serve in a plate, covered with icing sugar. You can also serve it with jam.

See this picture? I fried mine a bit too long and it dried up a bit. Learn from my mistakes :)
My hubby, when asked, said definitely try it again. It was tasty even when a bit dry.

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 10. Grilled Sandwich

2011-03-04T09:47:00.001-05:00

Uh-oh. I don't have eggs. I have just enough milk for 2 cups of coffee. I ran out of fresh fruits. That's what happens when you go to a late-night zumba class and forget all about groceries. So what on earth am I supposed to cook for breakafst with no eggs and milk?!

It turns out there is a solution - if you have an indoor grill. I do. So I made a grilled sandwich - I used to love them when I lived in Israel. Back then, I had a grilled sandwich machine which was impossible to clean for the fear of being electrocuted. Now I have an indoor grill machine with removable and dishwashable plates. And there are plates for Belgian waffles, too. But that's not the point - today I'm making grilled sandwich!

Ingredients:

bread (toastable)

deli meat

cheese

ketchup

butter

tomato

Recipe is simple:

Turn on the indoor grill.

Place the bread slices in the toaster set for 1 or 2: you don't want to toast it, just warm it up.

When it pops out, put some butter on one side of it - thinly. It will melt since your bread is warm.

Flip the bread and spread ketchup on the unbuttered side.

Add tomato slices, deli meat, and grated cheese.

Cover with the other piece of bread, unbuttered side in.

Stick the sandwich into the grill and keep there until it browns and the cheese inside it melts.

Serve immediately.

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 9. Poached Eggs Sandwich

2011-03-03T08:53:00.003-05:00

This morning I slept right through all of my alarms. I still managed to get out of bed before my hubby got out of shower, but I definitely had far less time than I needed for the planned since yesterday breakfast.

Change of plans on the fly!

Flipping through the breakfast recipes saved on my laptop, mentally flipping through my fridge contents, flipping through a wonderful book I received a few years ago called "out to brunch", I finally got me a winner: poached eggs sandwich.

Now, if this is your first time poaching an egg, perhaps it's not gonna be a life-saver breakfast put together in 8 minutes. Just a warning. Well, not a warning... a watch-out.

Anyhow, the recipe is really for Eggs Benedict, but that definitely is not a quick breakfast solution as the sauce takes forever to make. I had to be inventive with the fridge contents and tight deadline (oh my, I talk like a project manager again).

Ingredients for 1 serving:

bread - 1 toastable piece (I really prefer whole wheat)

egg - 1

deli meat - 1 piece (I used prosciutto cotto; you can even use smoked salmon - actually, that'd be even better...)

spread or sauce (now, as I said it's supposed to be a sauce made all by yourself for eggs benedict. But since these were poached eggs sandwiches I was making, I grabbed a spinach spread from Fountain Sante, I just love it. Salty and rich - that's what you're looking for. And yes, you can make the poached egg sandwich even without sauce altogether - the runny yolks will be enough)

vinegar

salt

The recipe is quite simple:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil (at least a couple of inches of water should be in it).

While it's boiling, break an egg into a small bowl - make sure the yolk stays intact.

Splash some vinegar in the boiling water and lower the heat to gentle simmer.

Slide the raw egg carefully right into the boiling water; vinegar is what will be holding the egg together (otherwise you'll end up with hot and sour soup, I guess).

Set the timer to 2-3 minutes.

Stick the bread into a toaster.

When the eggs are ready, put the bread slice onto a plate, cover it with your deli meat, sauce/spread, and fish out your poached egg carefully with a slotted spoon and slide on top of the sandwich.

Serve immediately.

The best thing about it? Dipping your toast into the runny yolk...

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 8. Cottage Cheese with Dried Fruits

2011-03-02T15:56:00.002-05:00

I had way too much wine and fried calamari for dinner last night to even consider frying or baking anything today for breakfast. Regardless, to maintain a balanced diet, you need to get your dairy at least every now and then.

So today' breakfast was simplicity itself: cottage cheese with dried fruits.

Ingredients:

cottage cheese

dried cranberries (sweet ones)

dried pitted prunes

dried apricots

fresh blueberries

jam (if you wish)

nuts

Really, I don't think I need to write a recipe, but here it is, just in case.

Quarter the apricots and the prunes and throw into a bowl. Add raisins, cranberries, nuts (ground, sliced, or whole - as you wish), mix - and serve.

You can also add jam, or canned fruits like peaches or mandarins. And enjoy - it's a really healthy breakfast made tastier (there aren't many people who would enjoy plain cottage cheese, I believe :))

You can even pre-soak raisins in rum and then serve them - mmmmm!

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 7. Frittata with Salmon and Green Beans

2011-03-01T08:40:00.002-05:00

This morning - frittata! Now, if you think that frittata is just a fancy name for an omelette, think again: while omelettes are prepared by simple mixing of egg yolks and whites in a bowl, for frittata you need to beat the eggs until you get them foamy, with lots of bubbles - for lots of texture.

And no, I didn't know this until today :)

Ingredients (this will be enough to feed 4-6 people):

eggs - 6

green beans - 100 g

canned salmon - 80 g

basil - 2 sprigs (or 1/4 tsp of dried one)

olive oil

salt

pepper

So, to make a frittata, you need:

If you are using fresh green beans, then you need to wash them, cut off the stalks, and boil them for 8-10 minutes. Now, this is breakfast we are talking about here, so I used canned beans. All you need to do is open them and get the liquid out. Perhaps chop them a bit if the beans are really long.

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk until foamy.

Add salt, pepper, basil, stir.

Add beans and salmon (don't forget to rid it of the oils it was canned in), stir.

Pour the mixture onto a preheated pan. While it's frying, keep making holes and let the eggy liquid run into the holes.

When the eggs are set, make sure your frittata isn't stuck to the pan. Then cover the pan with a big plate or a rimless, fairly flat lid and with a quick movement flip your frittata onto the plate/lid. Set the pan back on the stove, slide the frittata into the pan. Fry some more - and serve!

You can serve it with cheese or fresh vegetables.

It's quite good even when it's cold, too!

Enjoy!

Credits: http://elladkin.livejournal.com

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 6. Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes

2011-02-28T10:05:00.002-05:00

It's official: spring is coming. How do I know? Well, because this week is a MASLENNITSA (stress the first syllable) week. The week when, in Russian tradition, we cook lots of pancakes and crepes and blinis (which symbolize the sun) to welcome spring.

Like most religious and harvesting holidays (e.g. Easter), maslennitsa doesn't come on exactly the same week every year - I always have to google it to find out when exactly I am supposed to get that pancake pan going. Sometimes it's in February, sometimes - in March.

In the good old days in the centuries long gone, maslennitsa was HUGE. People used to eat blinis every day for a week. There was a designated day when a family invites his in-laws, and then hers, and then when everyone went TO in-laws, and so on. There were festivities and events like burning an over-sized Winter Figure (which looks like a scarecrow) and jumping over a bonfire.

Well, as the maslennitsa starts off today, I am not planning on jumping over bonfires, but I decided to make teeny-tine pancakes for breakfast.

Ingredients:

rolled oats - 125 ml (1/2 cup)

flour - 125 ml (1/2 cup)

sugar - 5 tsp (brown, preferably)

baking powder - 1/2 tsp

baking soda - 1/2 tsp

salt - 1/8 tsp

ground nutmeg - 1/8 tsp

banana - 1/2

egg - 1

yogurt - 125 ml (1/2 cup)

milk - 60 ml (1/4 cup)

liquid vanilla - 1/4 tsp

oil

Just follow the recipe:

In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg).

In a separate bowl, grate banana, and mix in the egg, milk, yogurt, and vanilla.

Pour the liquids slowly into the dry mix, constantly stirring.

Preheat a thick-bottomed skillet and spray with oil.

Scoop the mass with a table spoon onto the frying pan. Turn when ready - and then serve!

Servings: Makes about 18-20 teeny-tine pancakes

Total preparation time: about 20 minutes.

Time saving tips (for a quicker breakfast):

Mix the dry ingredients the night before

Fry the pancakes in 2 pans simultaneously

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 5. Gurieff Pudding

2011-02-27T12:41:00.004-05:00

Ahhh, the bliss of sleeping in... Well rested, relaxed, cradling a cup of coffee prepared especially for me by my beloved hubby - perfect timing to get into a more complicated breakfast recipe!

In Russia, people say children are supposed to eat porridge if they wanna grow big and strong and healthy. Problem is, most people (especially children) hate porridge. Perhaps, because parents are too pushy on the subject.

After moving out of my parents' place, I spent years enjoying my porridge-free world. But then something happened and I realized that I miss it. I crave it. A few more years passed - and here I am, getting creative with my porridge. This one doesn't even look or taste like one!

So here's one recipe like that. But it certainly isn't something to be undertaken on a weekday morning...

Ingredients:

milk - 500 ml

semolina - 1/2 cup

eggs - 2

ground wallnuts - 500 g

fresh berries - 300 g

sugar - 1 cup

oil

fruits and berries for decoration

Preparation instructions: (breakfast recipe)

Preheat the oven to 390F.

Break the eggs into a bowl and separate yolks into another bowl.

Wash berries and cut them in half.

Pour milk into a pan with thick walls. Slowly add semolina, constantly mixing it with milk. Bring to boil, stirring it non-stop (I know... it's a lot of work)

When the porridge gets thick, turn off the stove, stir in yolks and ground nuts.

Oil a small oven-friendly form, cover the bottom with half the porridge.

Layer berries on top of it and then cover with the rest of the porridge.

Cover with sugar.

Heat a knife (I stuck it in the stove fire) and press sugar with it - you will hear a burning sound of sugar being caramelized. Repeat until all sugar has been pressed with the heated knife.

Stick in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Serve immediately, decorated with fresh berries and fruits.

Note: I used blackberries and I wouldn't recommend using them as they have tiny seeds that are unpleasantly crunchy. Perhaps raspberries or strawberries are better, or blueberries (which are too small to be cut in half)

Credits: unfortunately, I do not remember where I got this recipe from.

2 Weeks of Breakfast: Day 4. Birmingham Eggs

2011-02-26T15:26:00.004-05:00

It's Saturday today. I planned to sleep in and make something really fancy for breakfast today. But then I made plans, which meant I had to be out by 9:30 am, which meant I had to wake at 8 am to allow enough time for the breakfast woo-doo. Which turned out quite impossible.

When I finally crawled out of bed half an hour past the alarm, it was quite clear I needed an alternative recipe. Faster and easier - but, perhaps, still fancy-looking, it being a weekend meal. And I found it!

I have no clue why it is called Birmingham Eggs, but there you go:

For 1 portion:

1 bread slice (the toasting kind)

1 egg

some butter

salt to taste

Looks fancy and is easily made. Just follow the recipe: (breakfast recipe)

Melt some butter in a skillet.

On a plate, cut out the centre of the bread slice. Leave the centre in it and add into the skillet. Fry it on both sides. Take the centre out.

Carefully break the egg into a small bowl - make sure the yolk stays intact. Remove any egg shells and pour the egg into the 'breadframe'. Make sure the whites reach into all four corners, fusing with the bread.

If the whites start to bubble, poke a hole and fill it with some still-liquid egg whites.

When the whites set, transfer onto a plate (preferably warmed plate) and serve immediately.

Et voila!

Credit: http://laperla-foto.livejournal.com